NYSE Reopens In Time to Close Weak

After a short day of trading that included a nearly 4-hour interruption on the NYSE floor, stocks closed way down today. The Dow lost over 250 points to end the day at 17,515.42, just above where the futures market had placed the index after lunch. The NASDAQ was today's big loser, dropping 1.75%, or 87.70 points, to close the day at 4,909.76. The S&P 500 split the difference, falling 34.66 points to close out the odd trading day at 2,046.68.

NYSE Floor Reopens After 4 Hours

Problems started in the premarket, although they seemed to improve until the trading floor ground to a halt at 11:32 AM. After trading stopped, the speculation about why started, and most analysts spent their day wondering. The problem appears to be caused by a faulty software update, although it's still too soon to say for sure.
Although the NYSE floor was closed, their Archipelago trading software -- which connects most major investment firms and brokerages with the exchange -- remained online throughout the day. Currently, analysts are waiting for the NYSE to file paperwork with the SEC explaining the problem. At present, it appears to be an innocent mistake rather than the result of a targeted cyber attack on the markets.

Chinese Markets Continue to Crash and Burn

The Asian meltdown continued amid market problems at home today. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -- which is the de facto Chinese marketplace -- fell by 1,459.87 points today. Japan's Nikkei was also down big, losing 619. The Hang Seng dropped 6.20% of its value today, and the Nikkei was down over 3%. Japanese and Chinese currencies both fell in the FOREX markets today.

Fed Releases June Meeting Details

In what was widely expected to be the lead story of the day before the surprise meltdown at the NYSE, the Fed released notes from its June meeting today. It expressed concerns about conditions overseas, and chose not to hike rates despite widely being forecast to do so 6 months ago.
The Fed is waiting for both the foreign and domestic situation to improve before it raises rates. At present, consumer spending is weak, Asia is crashing, and the Greek economy is still in shambles. Although the situation at home is relatively stable, the environment overseas is much more volatile and the Fed said today that it wished to avoid injecting further uncertainty. The Fed's prime rate currently sits at some of the lowest levels in history.